Computer Games Reverse Mental Decline

5/13/2013 12:29PM

A new study reveals that adults who played a video game helped their mental agility more than adults who did crossword puzzles. Your Health columnist Sumathi Reddy and University of Iowa public health professor Fred Wolinsky join Lunch Break with details. Photo: Double Decision.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... it it lights Peckham twenty doubts computer games it turns out me in ... brain function and reverse ... the decline mono and crossword puzzles lease ... at two point one recent study we of Wall Street all hell calmness Sumathi ... Reddy here on set with us as well as universe denial of public health professor and lead researcher ... on the same friend Alinsky he joins us from Iowa City ... thanks you both so much for being here I actually don't EU person she studied and performed a study ... by University ... how were the subject matter is that actually tested in this game which was at the covertly called ... road to war but later renamed to be something else ... yes ... spending the next double decision ... can ... the Test team involves HSBC's ... stake Standard murals psychological tests ... assessments ... and in particular are um ... the steps different aspects of speech or processing firm an executive function and middle aged and older adults ... and the game itself that they were plain what what are they doing in the game or look innocent pictures right here to tells for the purpose of the game share ... the purpose of the game has ... to deal to do with trying to enhance the useful field of view to see how ... individual has as we age our field of vision collapses ... in upon us ... so we get to see and make use in particular of less information out in the periphery ... so what does kind of training program tries to do ... is expand a useful field of view for older adults to calm ... increase their ability ... to comp ... in cancer selective attention in their divided attention so as the individuals playing the game ... if you are what you see in the center of the screen ... has a license plate union that license plate or Sith or a car or truck ... and then there's a circle of moon's eight mins in particular around the license plate ... seven of those are river crossings times in one of the century sixty six packets ... and the app to use ... to ... view the screen for a small spouse time she can ... and be able to determine Intel's correctly weather was a car or truck and a license plate ... and which of the moons are circles ... commenter its sixty six ... okay I get F imitative enormous amount of research dollars being poured and ... pockets as they will either ... Wartell cognitive decline perhaps if we might even improve cognitive function ... I wonder how this latest test actually ... fits in with the real world in other words the central processing speed fell on the test will it translate the processing speed of the things we do in everyday life ... is per se cannot test reading did more like a parasite test ... there was a very large very similar or government but instead he died ten years ago which to show that ... extends into the kind of training on the pattern of the two percent reduction in when people ... click through rates which ... subsea Hugo Boss finding this out there is some evidence of that in some studies but ... there are some statements and one that might reduce and could announce a new training and are you actually like ... when the Oval to my counterparts and I'm not cook faster into the snow ... the things I thought was the in thing about this particular study he didn't get it into shallow ... on some impact on people who were younger remain estimate that not be in their seventy seven David and in their fifties are so forth ... and that's really important given I guess the aging population baby boomers everyone's out there looking sweater for this magic wand right ... to keep that cognitive decline from ever happening ... not to cut a fine start spree early Minister of these are twenty or thirty friendly he do this thing out now add to the fact that the show it like it will result in both villages but with these are very exciting climate researchers a doctor once the one last quick question to you do you have to continually claimed these gains ... in order to have beat them in if it's sustainable or or is it like in the new improved anything that we keep that improvement ... it's a Zurich the question very good news is ... a town in our study people play the game for about ten hours during the first five to eight weeks a year when your file of times ... and the results at last about two years and in the previous sentence must be mentioned ... we filed people up for five years and the ten hours tree baseline ... classy habitat expects that far off ... in particular when she mentioned the effect on rejection motor vehicle collisions ... count that was going four for six out for six years or ten hours just training ... can have a profound and prolonged effects in improving cognitive function ... interest in such a hot area of research right now Dr Wednesday thanks so much for being with this and that you may be shifting here ... is the more the Pursell Journal section ... tomorrow